Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang

Rare encounter in times of conflict !

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The possibility of a U.S. military strike against North Korea has dominated the news in the United States and South Korea and for a good reason. The Trump administration now appears to be downplaying the idea that it is considering a military strike to prevent Pyongyang from crossing the ICBM threshold. But it’s hard to ignore the consistent signals that senior officials had been sending over the past several months.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and others have been talking about a “preventive war,” saying we are “running out of time” to solve the North Korea problem, and that North Korea has brought the world “closer to war.” President Trump, for his part, has warned that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea.

Recently the administration withdrew Victor Cha’s nomination to be ambassador to South Korea, reportedly because of his objection to a “bloody nose” strike. Despite appearances at the Olympics, we are now closer to a war on the Korean Peninsula than at any time since 1994, when the Clinton administration considered a military strike to destroy North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex.

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Excerpt from an article published by authors near to the The Brookings Institution in the US daily USA Today on February 9, 2018. The Brookings Institution is a think tank located in Washington DC and which is usually considered as a rather conservative and liberal organization.

North Korea Cheating on China ?

Important Update added on February 7 !



朝鲜造假文件向中国运输煤炭获利？ 中方回应

Is North Korea making Profit from Faked Documents
on Coal Transport to China ? China's Response.

问：据悉，联合国负责朝鲜制裁问题的独立调查员在一份报告中称， 朝鲜去年通过出口违禁商品获得2亿美元收入，其中包括通过造假文件向中国运输煤炭， 向叙利亚和缅甸出口武器等。中方是否看到了这份报告？对该报告的有关内容有何评论？

Question: It is said that an independent investigator for the United Nations and who is in charge of the subject of North Korea sanctions, stated in a report: Last year, North Korea gained a 200 million US$ income from undergoing export of sanctioned merchandise, thereby including the falsification of documents for the transport of coal to China and the export of weapons to Syria and Myanmar. Has China seen that report ? What is China's comment on its content ?

答：据我了解，你提到的报告正在联合国安理会有关制裁委员会的内部审议进程当中。 目前，我不便对媒体就报告作出具体评论。

Answer: As to my understanding, you refer to the report that is just being internally discussed by the United Nations Security Council's committee concerned with the sanctions. At the moment I consider it inappropriate to make any specific comment on that report to the media.

这里我想指出，第一，中方始终主张联合国安理会通过的有关决议应该得到全面、 严格执行。第二、中方作为安理会常任理事国，一直带头全面、严格执行安理会有关涉朝决议， 履行我们应尽的国际义务。

Here I want to point out: Firstly, China all along endorses that the United Nations Security Council's related resolutions should be fully and rigorously implemented. Secondly, China as a permanent member of the Security Council is always among the first to fully and rigorously implement the Security Council's resolutions involving North Korea.

[Source SINA on the regular press conference of China's Foreign Ministry held on February 5, 2018]

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中朝边境气氛诡异 中方突增兵30万加导弹部队

Eerie and strange atmosphere at the North Korean border.
China suddenly rushes in another 300.000 troops,
including missile units.

[Source: NTDTV 新唐人 on February 5, 2018]

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Russian visitor from the border region to China and North Korea.